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I'm thinking about starting a daily mailing list. I have run mailing lists in the past but I've found it too much of a hassle manually sending out email to them. As I've been reading through the posts in this forum, I've learned that I can use some method to automate it. However, being new to all this, I didn't quite understand the method used.

How do I go about setting up an automated mailing list? Don't worry about talking down to me! Talk in very simple terms. If possible, I would like to set up the list cost-free.

I'm not sure who your host is, but many offer packages that include mailing list setup. I know my host charges a $25 setup fee for this service. I have not yet used this, so I can't give you the details on how it works. Maybe someone can help both me and you out?

People can sign up either through the page they provide you or sign up through a special email address i.e. brainofbrian-subscribe@egroups.com. When you get ready to send your newsletter or whatever you can either send it from the the page they provide you or set up an alias so that you can mail it using whatever address you would like.

When you hit send it will automatically be distributed to everyone subscribed.

If you have the option/means, I'd go with Majordomo; it's quite popular and can handle large lists fairly easily.

Short of Majordomo or some online service (ala Topica, ListBot or eGroups), I'd recommend downloading the freeware version of PowerList from http://www.SolutionScripts.com - it's a fine program that is decent at handling large lists...at least until they're large enough for you to afford something like Majordomo.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote/font><HR>Originally posted by TWTCommish:...at least until they're large enough for you to afford something like Majordomo. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is a little bothersome, I sincerely hope that the mailing lists that host offers are not majordomo if they are going to charge. My host gives me two free mailings lists. I can see this as an issue to stop server usage, but to charge simply to make money is wrong, when majordomo is free.

The software may be free but Diskspace and Bandwidth are not. To run a large mailing list you will need a lot of both to be successful. Your host is probably charging for the added bandwidth to send these list as well as a setup fee to pay the person that sits there and configures your software for use. At $25 per setup, its not that bad since it could take you hours to set it up yourself.

If you have 500 people on your list and want to use a 3rd party go with Topica - they pay $500 if you transfer your list! So not only do you not have to pay for bandwidth and software, you get paid (and they do profit sharing on ads and you could still run your own)!

Thanks everyone for your replies! However, I think there has been a misunderstanding. Let me clarify what I meant by "automated." I meant I wanted to set it up so I have 30 emails set up to be sent to my list and then a script puts them on a timer and sends one of the 30 out each day. That way I don't have to manually hit "send" each day to have a daily mailing list.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote/font><HR>Originally posted by Owen:If you have 500 people on your list and want to use a 3rd party go with Topica - they pay $500 if you transfer your list! So not only do you not have to pay for bandwidth and software, you get paid (and they do profit sharing on ads and you could still run your own)! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ah, not surprising. ONEList/eGroups has run a similar promotion I believe 3 times now...yours truly has been fortunate enough to take advantage several times...it's a great promotion and is worth sticking a simple ad in there.

However, it might not be worth it *today*. When I took advantage, all ads from ONEList/eGroups were at the end of the message...I believe now that Yahoo! owns them, they're moving the ads to the top with a payment option for lists that would rather remove the ads altogether.